Hunters often use decoys to attract their prey. For example, various decoys are well known which simulate the shape and coloration of a duck or some other waterfowl. While some of these decoys are designed for use on land, others are meant to float on a body of water. Such floating decoys are used on a pond or lake to which ducks are naturally attracted and are positioned near the hunter's location on such pond or lake.
Referring to FIG. 1 herein, a prior art floating decoy is illustrated. This decoy comprises a duck shaped body made of a buoyant material, or having some type of added buoyancy means, to allow the body to float on water. A U-shaped anchor weight is connected to the body by an elongated cord of predetermined length depending on the depth of the water at the hunter's usual locale. The decoy is deployed with the weigh being thrown down into the water with the cord extending until the weight touches bottom. This anchors the decoy in place and gives the decoy a natural looking floating motion to the extent allowed by the amount of slack in the cord.
When the hunting is over, it is necessary to take up and store the decoy. This is often done at the end of the day when the hunter is most tired, often cold, and sometimes wet. Often, the hunter is also wearing gloves of some type. With those decoys previously known in the prior art, most hunters wind the anchor cord around the neck of the decoy until the cord is fully wound thereon. The weight can then be slipped around over the neck of the duck and retained thereon because of its U-shape, all as shown in FIG. 1.
Needless to say, it is inconvenient to have to wind the anchor cord around the neck of the decoy at the end of the hunter's day. Quite a number of turns are required due to the length of the cord and the small diameter of the neck. In addition, many hunters use more than one decoy, and the winding of the anchor cord has to be done for each. Thus, the hunter has to spend some time winding up all the decoy cords for proper decoy storage. Again, this task has to be done when most hunters are tired and would simply prefer to be done for the day.
Some hunters try to ease the winding task by winding the cord around the decoy's body in a criss-cross or figure eight fashion. While this decreases the number of turns that are required, it is still inconvenient to do, especially when there are a number of decoys. In addition, the cords can slip off the body and possibly become tangled. This is a problem as the tangles have to be removed before the decoy can be used the next time.